(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, made the following statement today condemning the Syrian regime’s continued and increasingly violent repression of the Syrian people:

“The Syrian regime’s violent crackdown against protesters is deeply disturbing. The latest acts are an escalation of the regime’s ongoing repression of the Syrian people and regime opponents.

“For far too long, the U.S. has ignored the serious threats posed by the Syrian regime to U.S. national security, to our allies, and to the Syrian people.

"Rather than returning our Ambassador to Damascus and upgrading the U.S. relationship with this pariah state, as the current administration has done, the U.S. must impose tough sanctions against the Syrian regime. We must isolate the regime diplomatically, while providing democracy assistance to legitimate civil society groups in Syria.”

NOTE: Ros-Lehtinen will soon introduce an updated version of the Syria Accountability and Liberation Act (H.R. 1206 in the 111th Congress), which she authored, and which strengthens U.S. sanctions targeting the Syrian regime’s vulnerabilities. That legislation will: authorize U.S. assistance to support a transition to democracy in Syria; condemn Syrian human rights abuses; and keep existing restrictions and sanctions on the Syrian regime and its enablers in effect until the President can certify that the government of Syria, among other things, upholds and defends the human rights and freedoms of the Syrian people.